With a bit of careful observation, you can learn what you need to know before you invite someone to join your board or campaign steering committee.
In fact you can apply the same theory to hiring staff and selecting consultants.
I’ve known the secret of doing this for many years and it has served me well. So I was surprised when I made a big mistake last month because I … [Read more...]

How many hours do you spend trying to wrangle your volunteers to do what they said they’d do? And what happens when they don’t?
On a recent coaching call, a board member said that he hadn’t made the donor calls he had promised to make a month earlier. And in that moment, I was reminded of the huge challenge of working with volunteers who don’t follow through.
Not only … [Read more...]

Your capital campaign's success depends heavily on the work of volunteers. The right sort of highly capable campaign volunteers add a breadth and depth to your campaign that your staff simply can't replace.
Volunteers won't just open doors, solicit gifts and help with all sorts of tasks, but they'll also be generous donors to your campaign.
That said, recruiting effective … [Read more...]

You might think that the people who have made the biggest difference to your capital campaign are the ones who give you the biggest gifts.
But you might be wrong. To be sure, those big, generous donors make a huge difference. But they're not the only ones who matter.
Who Has Made a Difference to Your Capital Campaign?
Are there people who don’t have great wealth and can’t … [Read more...]

Your capital campaign’s success hinges heavily on the work of a team that includes both staff and volunteers.
An effective campaign team is essential to your success. And a team that works together with efficiency, respect, trust, and a bit of humor will make your work both fun and more rewarding.
While volunteer management will demand much of your time and the time of … [Read more...]

One of the super important but overlooked skills required in capital campaign fundraising is the ability to select and enlist great people.
If you have a campaign team made of great board members, great campaign committee volunteers, and great staff members, you can jet-propel your campaign, literally breathing energy and commitment into even the most difficult asks.
This … [Read more...]

Have you noticed how hard it is to recruit great fundraising volunteers?
In our pre-campaign coaching, Gail and I see that it's more and more challenging to get busy, capable, well-connected volunteers – the very kind you want – to agree to chair your campaign or even to serve on your campaign committees.
That’s why once you’ve got the right volunteers on board, you MUST … [Read more...]

Is your board engaged and excited about your capital campaign plans? Chances are, they're not as engaged as you wish they would be.
Recently, one of our most savvy campaign coaching clients said to me:
My board says "yes" and then looks at me to make it happen. When it comes to our capital campaign, that's simply not the right model. I can't do it myself.
She's right. You … [Read more...]

Whether you like it or not, some of the people on your campaign committees won't get their bodies to meetings. They'll participate by phone or Skype or some other program.
For some meetings, you will have some people around the table and some conferenced in. But you may actually elect to hold some of your meetings entirely virtually.
Virtual Meetings are the New … [Read more...]

A great consultant friend of mine recently described capital campaigns as "just one meeting after another."
And while that makes light of all of the other things that go into a capital campaign, it's a valid description! So you had better know how to organize and facilitate great meetings. I think it's an essential campaign skill!
Are Your Capital Campaign Meetings … [Read more...]